Nomination and confirmation
In March 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that economic advisors to Donald Trump had presented him with several possible options to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, including Warsh.
After his victory in that year's presidential election, Trump began reexamining his possible nominees for secretary of the treasury amid concerns about Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent. According to The New York Times, Trump considered Warsh to serve as secretary of the treasury.
Trump had proposed nominating Warsh as secretary of the treasury and eventually as chair of the Federal Reserve after Powell's term was set to expire. Trump later nominated Bessent to serve as secretary of the treasury.
After Trump renewed his feud with Powell, Warsh was among several candidates seen as his possible successors.
In July 2025, the competition between Warsh and Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, had intensified into the type of "boardroom drama" that Trump engaged in on The Apprentice (2004–2017). The following month, Trump stated that the search for a successor to Powell had narrowed to three candidates, believed to be Warsh; Hassett; and Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who was favored by Trump advisors. Bessent later confirmed the names and added that the possible candidates also included Michelle Bowman, another member of the board, and the executive Rick Rieder. Interviews for the position concluded in December.
In January 2026, Trump stated that he preferred that Hassett remain at the National Economic Council. That month, The New York Times reported that Trump was set to name Warsh as his nominee for chair of the Federal Reserve. On January 30, Trump announced that he would nominate Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Warsh's nomination occurred amid a federal investigation into Powell. North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, stated that he would block Warsh's nomination until the inquiry's conclusion. Bessent sought to have the committee begin hearings on Warsh's nomination despite Tillis's blockade. A federal judge dismissed several grand jury subpoenas in the investigation into Powell in March; Jeanine Pirro, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, continued to pursue the case, threatening Warsh's nomination.
As Warsh's committee hearing neared in April 2026, several Republicans in the Senate publicly expressed discontent with the investigation, including Senate majority leader John Thune. He appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on April 21. Warsh asserted that he would be a "strictly independent" chairman, rejecting possible calls by Trump to cut interest rates. He advocated for various reforms to the Federal Reserve, including decreasing its portfolio. After the hearing, the Department of Justice announced that it was ending the inquiry into Powell, enabling his path to confirmation. After Tillis ended his objections to Warsh's nomination, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted to advance Warsh to the Senate in a 13–11 vote along party lines on April 29. The following day, Thune filed cloture on Warsh's nomination.
The Senate voted to advance Warsh's nomination in a 49–44 vote on May 11, 2026. The vote was largely along party lines, though Democratic senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Chris Coons of Delaware voted in favor of advancing the nomination. Warsh was confirmed as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in a 51–45 vote the following day. On May 13, the Senate voted to confirm Warsh as the chair of the Federal Reserve in a 54–45 vote. Fetterman was the only Democratic senator to vote in favor of the board nomination and the chair nomination. New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand did not vote. The vote to confirm Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve was the narrowest in U.S. history.
In August, Warsh reaffirmed the Federal Reserve's 2% long-term inflation target, measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index, describing it as a "firm, fixed target." In a speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he said inflation remained above the target and emphasized that short-term interest rates were the Federal Reserve's primary tool for fulfilling its dual mandate.
